Celebrity Children’s books
Many celebrities, famous for achieving in their particular field of endeavour, whether it be sport, cooking, acting, marrying a royal person or whatever, decide to write a book for children, with varying success. Recently Jamie Oliver’s book Billy and Epic Escape was withdrawn after criticism for ‘stereotyping’ Indigenous Australians.
Nevertheless children are attracted by famous names and many are willing to read something that has a known name on the cover. Sport is a particularly rich field of players worshipped by children. For parents and teachers aiming to encourage and support reading these books can be a valuable resource. Here are some that have a famous name on the cover that may entice that reluctant reader to challenge their imagination and explore their world a bit more.
Mary Fowler: Football Legends by Kit Cross, illustrated by Leigh Hedstrom
Daniel Ricciardo: F1 Legends by Kit Cross, illustrated by Leigh Hedstrom
Both titles are part of the Legends of Sport series and are highly illustrated. The content is arranged in short chapters and is mainly statistics, facts and stories about the subject. Each page presents a brief burst of text that is full of details so the reader does need to concentrate.
Ash Barty is very popular in the tennis world even though she no longer plays professionally. She has been busy since putting down her tennis racquet producing a memoir, Ash Barty Champion, the younger reader edition of her memoir My Dream Time and a popular children’s series, Little Ash, many of which have been reviewed in StoryLinks. Her latest publishing endeavour are the Tennis Camp diaries which purport to be her secret diary of her adventures at Tennis Camp.
Doubles Disaster (Tennis Camp Diaries, #1) by Ash Barty Jasmin McGaughey, illustrated by Jade Goodwin and Superstar (Tennis Camp Diaries, #2) by Ash Barty Jasmin McGaughey, Illustrated by Jade Goodwin, are charming stories about friendship, being active and enjoying tennis.
Dylan Alcott’s first book in a projected series Dylan Alcott Game On (Game On, #1) by Dylan Alcott Fiona Regan Illustrated by Nahum Ziersch is aimed at more confident middle grade readers and is a more challenging read at 277 pages. Told in an appealing chatty conversational style this story deals with social issues, children with disabilities, starting high school, friendship and family. The illustrations are humourous and plentiful and work well to support the text.
All these titles are carefully designed and presented, aimed at appealing to a wide young readership, even those who know nothing about sport and thus deserve a place in the school and home library.
